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Tallahassee City Commission backs county on children's service council

The City Commission has thrown its support behind a county proposal to ask voters to raise taxes on themselves in November to finance a children's services council.

The city's support is vital because most of the residents reside in the city limits.

“I am a huge fan of what the county is taking up,” Mayor Andrew Gillum said in favor of a city resolution to back the Leon County Commission's proposal.

City Commissioner Gil Ziffer said he placed it on the agenda because a large number of children who live within the city limits would be helped by a children’s service council.

The city doesn’t have the statutory authority to set up such an entity. State law gives that specific authority to counties to set up independent special tax districts to raise money for children’s services. A new district must be approved by a majority of Leon County voters, the vast majority of whom reside within the city of Tallahassee.

The County Commission has scheduled a June 19 public hearing on whether to let voters decide to establish an independent taxing authority that would give the council the power to levy up to 50 cents per every $1,000 of assessed property value.

That would be a $100 increase for the owner of a $225,000 home with a standard homestead exemption.

Such an increase would raise $7.5 million to $8 million for the council, which would be used to treat a wide array of children’s issues, including health and economic disparities, childhood poverty and hunger, homelessness, juvenile crime and school readiness.

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County Commissioner John Dailey(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

The idea was first suggested by County Commissioner John Dailey, who recently announced he’s running for mayor. If approved by the County Commission, a referendum would be placed on the November ballot.

While the city resolution was enthusiastically supported by Gillum, Ziffer and City Commissioner Nancy Miller, commissioners Scott Maddox and Curtis Richardson had reservations.

"This sounds like a good idea, but I know absolutely nothing about it,” Maddox said before he voted against the resolution.

He also said he didn’t want to set a bad precedent by voting on something the city hadn’t approved yet, especially without having staff briefings on the subject, which is not within the city’s purview.

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City Commissioner Scott Maddox(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

“It’s procedurally bad to insert ourselves into the county’s process,” he said.

Richardson, likewise, said he couldn’t support the resolution, “especially with this being an additional tax.”

He said he’d support it as an individual but was “hesitant to support us as a body going forward.”

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City Commissioner Curtis Richardson(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.